What Piezo's should I use on my DIY Edrums for megadrum?

[frankzappa]

Hello! I'm going to convert an acoustic drumkit to an electric and I'm planning to buy a Megadrum here soon. I have a Roland TD8 now but I want a Megadrum for the extra connections and compatibility with triple zone cymbals.

What size piezo's are the best for Megadrum? 25mm,27mm, 35 mm?

From what I understand Roland uses 35mm piezos and the Alesis trigger I/O works best with 25mm. Which work best for Megadrum?

Oh and I have bought a Roland VH-11 hihat, from what I have heard Megadrum supports the extra foot pedal expression, ís anyone here using the VHH-11 with megadrum, and does it work good?

What about smartrigger cymbals, I have ordered a triple zone and two dual zones, will they work.

Thanks

[frankzappa]

Anyone?

[dmitri]

Sorry to say this, but I guess the lack of replies is because these questions were asked and answered many times. See FAQ 4 in viewtopic.php?p=5449#p5449

[frankzappa]

Sorry to say this, but I guess the lack of replies is because these questions were asked and answered many times. See FAQ 4 in viewtopic.php?p=5449#p5449

Sorry but I can't find anything about my main question about what piezos I should use.

[dmitri]

Sorry but I can't find anything about my main question about what piezos I should use.

It has also been asked many times. You can use any piezo sizes. Bigger piezos generate stronger signals.

[Bean]

frankzappa,

look at this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKEhPzWSyps

The video is for useing piezo transducers to make sonars & accelerometers. It IS insightful

I used 20mm on my Alesis trigger I/O to make contact with perl mesh heads useing rubber stoppers (for testtube's). I had to add a resistor on each pad as they where to "HOT". I wish to swith to the MrgaDrum ASAP next year.

Use the Search option on the MegaDrum Forums for the word "hot", this will also be helpfull

- Bean

[kimouette]

I have bought all 3 available sizes from this guy :
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Piezo-Ceramic-Elemen ... 5881b8def0

But in the end, I've only been using the 27mm piezos!

[kupooglop]

My experience is the best size piezo is the cheap size. I started using 20mm from radio shack @ $3.50 a pop. Switched over to 35mm from local electronics wholesaler (gateway electronics) b/c they cost $0.50 apiece. Made diy dual zone pads with both size piezos on it & they performed the same with voltage dividers. They were pretty similar w/o voltage dividers. Once I added voltage dividers, I realized I was wasting my time without them, so all my pads have them now. Only thing about 35mm piezos is they are hard to stick in a tight space. For $0.50 a pop, I could care less at this point. Plus I don't have to break off all that crappy black plastic stuff to get at the piezo.

[frankzappa]

Thanks for the replies guys, I have been away from the forum and have already built my kit. I used 35 mm piezo's on the heads, 20mm on the rim triggers and it's working great. I'm using the TD-8 module, works well with positional sensing on the snare. However the cymbals are not working well at all. Smartrigger cymbals. Striking the middle of the cymbal works good but striking the rim is really bad. The TD-8 has low sensitivity on the rim sound of the cymbals so only the hardest hit's will register.

Will getting the Megadrum solve this? Can you set separate rim sensitivity?

Also do I have to re-build my drums with those voltage dividers?

[dmitri]

Thanks for the replies guys, I have been away from the forum and have already built my kit. I used 35 mm piezo's on the heads, 20mm on the rim triggers and it's working great. I'm using the TD-8 module, works well with positional sensing on the snare. However the cymbals are not working well at all. Smartrigger cymbals. Striking the middle of the cymbal works good but striking the rim is really bad. The TD-8 has low sensitivity on the rim sound of the cymbals so only the hardest hit's will register.

Will getting the Megadrum solve this? Can you set separate rim sensitivity?

Unless Smarttrigger cymbals use something unusual on rims, I don't see why they shouldn't work fine with MegaDrum. And yes, with MegaDrum you can set different sensitivities on Head/Rim inputs.

Also do I have to re-build my drums with those voltage dividers?

Without testing your DIY drums with MegaDrum it is impossible to say if you'll need voltage dividers or not.